Out of Many, One 

Coalition Building for Minority Communities Gap 

By Kauthar B. Umar, MA


Closing the Gap, Working Toward Our Goal • August 2003


Can representatives from more than 80 diverse organizations 

work together toward one common goal? Some would say 

impossible. Yet, one such coalition has been successful in 

developing a national health agenda that is cohesive and unified in its 

approach to improving the health status of people of color. 

In its conference report, Out of Many One: A Multicultural Action 

Plan to Achieve Health Parity (OMO), developed in November 2000, 

representatives from a wide variety of minority health organizations 

including the National Latino Council on Alcohol and Tobacco Prevention, the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum 

(APIAHF), the National Indian Council on Aging, Papa Ola Lokahi 

(POL), the Summit Health Institute for Research and Education 

(SHIRE), and individuals representing communities of color throughout the nation gathered to develop strategies to improving the health 

of minorities. 

Partially funded by the Office of Minority Health, and in line 

with Healthy People 2010 objectives, the OMO plan provides a path 

for achieving health parity for communities of color within the next 

decade. The OMO’s goal and underlying philosophy is to empower 

each racial and ethnic community by developing and implementing a 

united health agenda. That agenda focuses on common health issues, 

while respecting the differences among communities of color. 

“As we’ve moved from one stage to the next, our coalition [OMO] 

has always been equally distributed among all racial and ethnic groups,” 

said Ruth Perot, executive director of SHIRE. “It’s very easy to bring 

to the table the token Black, the token Asian American, the token 

Hawaiian, the token Indian and consider it done. We said no. As we 

American Public Health Association (APHA) 

http://www.apha.org 

Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) 

http://www.apiahf.org 

National Indian Council on Aging (NICOA) 

http://www.nicoa.org 

National Latino Council on Alcohol and Tobacco Prevention 

(LCAT) 

http://www.nlcatp.org 

National Native American AIDS Prevention Center (NNAAPC)

 http://www.nnaapc.org 

Papa Ola Lokahi (POL) 

http://papaolalokahi.8m.com 

Summit Health Institute for Research and Education (SHIRE) 

http://www.shireinc.org 

Out of Many, One Founding Member Organizations 

moved forward in this process, our management committee had one 

person from each group go out and get three more people from their 

group to add to it. At all times, we had equity and balance. If we want 

people to feel that they have an equal voice, we have to provide an 

equal avenue for their participation,” Perot said.

 Lack of access, resources, political power, and policies were identified by the OMO management committee as barriers to health parity—which can discourage those who are searching for change from 

expecting any glimmer of hope. Colonialism, racism, oppression, and 

pessimistic attitudes within communities of color were also identified 

as barriers to progress. 

Goals and Objectives 

After analyzing the barriers, six goals were developed by the 

OMO coalition: 

 Achieve universal health care;


 Establish comprehensive health systems;


 Improve cultural, institutional, and educational development;


 Improve research data;


 Achieve empowerment; and


 Develop community leadership.


Ultimately, to reach health parity, the coalition believes that several 

public health objectives must be realized: 

 Increase insurance coverage; 

 Institutionalize cultural competency training; 

 Research and assess cultural healing traditions; and 

 Increase funding for research conducted by minorities on minorities. 

These objectives affect the way in which communities of color respond to health care in the U.S. “I think what we want is for our 

health to be the best it can be. Whatever the Jaguar [luxury vehicle] 

quality of care is, whatever the Jaguar outcome is, that’s what we hope 

to get,” said Gem Daus, legislative and governmental affairs coordinator for APIAHF. According to Daus, achieving the best health potential must begin by receiving health care that is equivalent to the best 

level of care available. “There must be parity of health systems. This 

can only be achieved by delivering culturally-based, appropriate, comprehensive, holistic, fully-funded, sustainable, and community-based 

services that foster prevention and quality of life,” said Daus. 

Michael Bird, executive director of the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center and the immediate past president of the 

American Public Health Association, stresses that such a model should 

be supported and spread across the nation, teaching fair­

> 

ness, equity, democracy, and justice. 

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Office of Minority Health Resource Center 1 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
Out of Many, One 

Coalition Building for Minority Communities Gap 

By Kauthar B. Umar, MA


Closing the Gap, Working Toward Our Goal • August 2003


To ensure these qualities, emphasis is placed on community involvement and empowerment. By establishing community Institutional Review Boards (IRB) in communities of color, the OMO coalition suggests that power shifts from the universities and scientists 

towards communities, so they too have an equal say. When planning 

the Native Hawaiian Health Care System’s IRB, Joanne Tsark, research 

director of POL, said community members actually out numbered 

the scientific representation on the board. 

“In a room filled with businessmen, researchers, and scientists, a 

cow farmer from the island of Maui, who may have never heard of an 

IRB, is also on the board and encouraged to speak as a farmer, simply 

because of his concerns,” said Tsark. 

“Our community members have the strongest voice,” Tsark continued. “If they disagree with anything, research does not move 

forward. We need to address every issue that the community member 

has on our IRB. There are parallels to the process we used in starting 

an IRB, to the process that the OMO coalition used in forming. We 

are going to be heard first. Not only are we the community at the 

table, but OMO built the table. We built the table for what we 

needed. We invited the people and everyone has a voice here.” 

That voice, as OMO discovered, is unanimous. Quality healthcare for all. 

For more information on the Out of Many, One: A Multicultural 

Action Plan to Achieve Health Parity, go to http://www.outofmany1.org

Out of Many, One: Coalition Building for Minority Communities is based on the Summit workshop of the same name 

Office of Minority Health Resource Center 2 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services